Author: Cyrus Farivar

A law professor has filed a formal legal complaint on behalf of three advocacy organizations, arguing that stingray use by law enforcement agencies nationwide—and the Baltimore Police Department in particular—violate Federal Communications Commission rules.

The new 38-page complaint makes a creative argument that because stingrays, or cell-site simulators, act as fake cell towers, that law enforcement agencies lack the spectrum licenses to be able to broadcast at the relevant frequencies. Worse still, when deployed, cell service, including 911 calls, are disrupted in the area.

Stingrays are used by law enforcement to determine a mobile phone's location by spoofing a cell tower. In some cases, stingrays can intercept calls and text messages. Once deployed, the devices intercept data from a target phone along with information from other phones within the vicinity. At times, police have falsely claimed the use of a confidential informant when they have actually deployed these particularly sweeping and intrusive surveillance tools. Often, they are used to locate criminal suspects.

(credit: John Skewes)

Turns out the FBI isn't the only agency to take over a child pornography website and bust some of its participants. Australian authorities have apparently employed similar tactics against Americans—revealing at least 30 targets.

According to Vice Motherboard, which first reported the story on Monday, Queensland Police Service’s Task Force Argos identified the owner of a Tor-hidden child porn site called “The Love Zone.” Queensland Police posed as The Love Zone for several months in 2014. (The Love Zone's Australian owner, Shannon McCoole, is currently serving a 35-year sentence.)

Once they had control, Aussie cops seem to have sent out a child porn video file as bait to users of the site.

Ars tries to interview Pepper the robot. Filmed by Chris Schodt/Edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Turns out it’s really hard to interview an adorable interactive robot when she's stuck on a demo loop and other journalists are trying to interview her at the same time.

Nevertheless, being face-to-face with SoftBank Robotics’ new “social robot” named Pepper was exciting and a bit odd.

(credit: Alistair)

A 27-year-old Irishman who American prosecutors believe was a top administrator on Silk Road named “Libertas” has been approved for extradition to the United States.

According to the Irish Times, a High Court judge ordered Gary Davis to be handed over to American authorities on Friday.

In December 2013, federal prosecutors in New York unveiled charges against Davis and two other Silk Road staffers, Andrew Michael Jones (“Inigo”) and Peter Phillip Nash (“Samesamebutdifferent”). They were all charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

Ars visits 42 US. Filmed by Chris Schodt/Edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

FREMONT, Calif.—As you read these words, hundreds of students are hunched over iMacs in a massive computer lab. Most of them have little, if any, programming experience, and they haven’t paid a cent to get here.

And yet, here they sit, just 7.6 miles directly across the Dumbarton Bridge from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, dreaming of joining Silicon Valley’s legions of programmers. Each day, the students get new programming assignments, but there are no teachers. There is a help desk, or rather a “help” desk—which really, really doesn’t want students to ask for guidance—all in the name of “peer-to-peer learning.”

(credit: Kim Dotcom)

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday in favor of the American government’s seizure of a large number of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s overseas assets.

In the US civil forfeiture case, which was brought 18 months after the initial criminal charges brought against Dotcom and Megaupload, prosecutors outlined why the New Zealand seizure of Dotcom’s assets on behalf of the American government was valid. Seized items include millions of dollars in various seized bank accounts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, multiple cars, four jet skis, the Dotcom mansion, several luxury cars, two 108-inch TVs, three 82-inch TVs, a $10,000 watch, and a photograph by Olaf Mueller worth over $100,000.

After years of delay, in December 2015, Dotcom was finally ordered to be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges. But his appeal is set to be heard before the High Court in Auckland on August 29. Dotcom could conceivably appeal to the New Zealand Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court of New Zealand (if it agrees to hear the case), a process that could take many more years.

(credit: NASA)

Top Congressional leaders were briefed a year ago on the Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee but were sworn to secrecy by intelligence officials.

According to Reuters, the Gang of Eight was briefed in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, last summer. This group has an even number of Republicans and Democrats, it includes Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), as well as Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the House and Senate intelligence committee chairs. Across the aisle, it also includes Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of the intelligence committees.

Due to the sensitivity of the information, they were restricted from telling anyone, including the targets.

(credit: Wired UK/Shuttershock)

Bleeping Computer, a longstanding popular discussion forum that helps people rid their computers of malware, has now countersued Enigma Software Group (ESG), which makes an antivirus software known as SpyHunter.

Bleeping now claims that ESG has been violating Bleeping’s trademarks by registering new domain names that include “bleepingcomputer” and posting some of the company’s webpage’s source code on other websites without its authorization, among other allegations.

ESG had sued Bleeping for libel earlier this year over a series of messages that it claims disparaged SpyHunter and the company as a whole.

(credit: Google Maps)

Ever since James and Theresa Arnold moved into their rented 623-acre farm in Butler County, Kansas, in March 2011, they have seen “countless” law enforcement officials and individuals turning up at their farm day and night looking for links to alleged theft and other supposed crime. All of these people are arriving because of a rounding error on a GPS location, which wrongly points people to their farm.

In their lawsuit filed against MaxMind, the IP mapping firm, the Arnolds allege:

The following events appeared to originate at the residence and brought trespassers and/or law enforcement to the plaintiffs’ home at all hours of the night and day: stolen cars, fraud related to tax returns and bitcoin, stolen credit cards, suicide calls, private investigators, stolen social media accounts, fund raising events, and numerous other events.

James Arnold has even been “reported as holding girls at the residence for the purpose of making pornographic films.”

(credit: green kozi)

OAKLAND, Calif.—At a Monday hearing in federal court, US Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu had strong words for prosecutors in an attempted murder and gang case that has dragged on for nearly three years.

"It is stunning to me that at this point in the case, the government cannot tell me very clearly what search has been done and what exists or does not exist, relevant to a stingray," she said with exasperation.

As Ars reported over a year ago, the case of United States v. Ellis et al involves four men are charged the 2013 attempted murder of local police officer Eric Karsseboom. The men are also charged with running an alleged East Oakland gang centered around Seminary Avenue (known as "SemCity").